-Suha Choi ‘22
St. Mark’s held its annual Play for Haiti Day on Wednesday, February 4th. The Play for Haiti Day raises funds to benefit the partner school of St. Mark's in Haiti, St. Marguerite’s. Through the hard work of the Haiti Partnership Committee and every St. Marker's support, the Play for Haiti Day was a success. In honor of a successful Play for Haiti day this year, The St. Marker interviewed Payton Kober’20 and Ms. Morgan, who are the leaders of the committee along with Madeliene Wass’20 and Paige LaMalva’20.
Play for Haiti
St. Marker: How was Play for Haiti Day first inspired?
Ms. Morgan: “The Play for Haiti Day was first inspired in the fall of 2018 by Kerrie Verbeek. Kerrie traveled to Haiti to visit our partner school, St. Marguerite's, in January, 2017. She was incredibly inspired by the trip and continued be very active in the partnership. Last year (2018-19) Kerrie was scheduled to travel to Haiti for a second time in January 2019 with the rest of the group from St. Mark's. Kerrie came up with the idea of organizing a Play for Haiti Day in the fall of 2018. Her idea was to pick a day in the winter when the majority of the St. Mark's athletic teams had home games and use this afternoon as an opportunity to promote the work the Haiti Partnership was doing, raise money to support teacher salaries and the lunch program at St. Marguerite's, and collect school supplies to bring with us to St. Marguerite's when we went in January 2019. We held our first Play for Hait Day on January 9, 2019, and planned to travel to St. Marguerite's the following week. Unfortunately, the trip was canceled due to the political unrest in Haiti. Haiti Partnership students sold t-shirts to promote the event and teams wore them during their warm-ups. The afternoon was a huge success.”
Boys Hockey 3v3 Play for Haiti Fundraiser
St. Marker: What was your favorite part about taking a part in the Haiti partnership at St. Mark’s?
Payton Kober’20: “One thing I love about the Haiti Partnership team is the sense of community of the whole team. The partnership is hugely team dependent and cannot function without the entire group’s support. In our partnership, we have all forms, ranging from fourth to sixth. I think that this allows the partnership to grow each year. As a whole, we meet biweekly to discuss various ways to raise money, political issues in Haiti, and St. Marguerites, our partnership school in Haiti. All members participate equally and bring amazing ideas to the group. So, in summary, one thing I wanted to encompass and share with you is just how great our whole team is, and without everyone's help, we would not be a successful partnership.”
Ms. Morgan: “As one of the faculty leaders of the Haiti Partnership, one of my favorite parts is learning about Haitian culture. I have had the opportunity to travel to visit our partner school, St. Marguerite's, four times and I have had the chance to take an intensive Creole class at the Boston Language Institute.”
Boys Hockey 3v3 Play for Haiti Fundraiser
St. Marker: Any additional thoughts to share about the committee?
Ms. Morgan: “Join us! We always love welcoming new members.”